Innocence Lost (an Ai no Itami spin-off)
by Baleful Eyes
Summary: Jikun Zensen wasn't always a prisoner of Orochimaru's. There was a time she was young and loved, but that all change when she was captured. It all changed when her innocence was lost.
1. Serendipity

"Zen-chan!"

"Coming!" chirped the little girl as she ran around the corner, catching herself when she almost tripped out the front door.

"Be careful now," her mother laughed, "I don't want to have to carry you before we even start walking."

Her mother was a beautiful woman who was only twenty-eight—quite young, considering she had a child. She wore her long, violet hair up in a ponytail, her golden eyes smiling in amusement at her daughter. Along with her forehead protector which she wore like a headband, she wore light pants, a sleeveless shirt, and sandals—a necessity for anyone who lived in the hot, arid deserts of the Land of Wind.

"Kunio could carry her, or your luggage," a young boy whom Zensen did not recognize suggested. He appeared to be about fourteen, and had a forehead protector tied around one of his arms. His scruffy hair was dirty blonde, and he was swarthy-skinned. He had sparkling emeralds for eyes, hidden behind glasses. "He makes a pretty decent pack mule, but he isn't good for much else."

"Shut up, four-eyes!" came a loud retort. Zensen turned to see another unfamiliar boy of the same age wearing a forehead protector on his head. His eyes were a dark blue that stood out against his peach-colored skin. He had fiery-red hair, and it was evident that he possessed a personality just as fiery.

"That's enough, you two," said a familiar voice. Zensen smiled as her eyes shifted to a man her mother's age. She wasn't always good at remembering people, but Zensen was always able to recognize him. Perhaps it was because she recognized, underneath one of onyx eyes, was a scar he'd obtained in battle years before, or simply because he'd been around most of her life, practically a father figure to the young girl.

"Hisao-chan!" Zensen shouted, running over to the man with her arms outstretched. She tripped over her own two feet as she made her way towards him, but he scooped her up in his arms before she could hit the ground.

His eyes shifted to his two male students, who were quietly laughing after hearing their sensei addressed as "-chan", and glared at the boys, silencing them as he did so. His eyes returning to Zensen, he laughed. "Seems you're quite the klutz, huh? Just like your mother."

"Oh, shut up, Hisao," Zensen's mother said, her tone playful yet slightly annoyed.

Hisao laughed again as he set Zensen down. "Sorry Rei—just stating the facts."

"Who are they?" Zensen whispered, hiding behind the man's leg and staring at the three strangers.

"This is my team," Hisao said with an amused chuckle. "We're going to be taking you and your mother to your grandmother's house."

A young girl who had yet to speak walked up to Zensen, smiling. She had wavy, turquoise hair that reached just below her shoulder blades. She wore her forehead protector around her neck, the piece of metal and fabric nicely framing her fair face as she bent down to Zensen's level, smiling warmly, and kindness in her dull, pink eyes.

"It's nice to meet you," said the girl, bowing her head respectfully. "My name is Kaneda Noa." Sensing the young girl's hesitance, she added, "I like your dress. It's very pretty."

Zensen smiled shyly, her eyes brightening up. Letting go of Hisao's leg, she straightened her yellow sundress and bowed respectfully at the young kunoichi, prompting her to giggle in amusement.

"Jikun Zensen," said the girl.

"You boys going to introduce yourselves?" Hisao inquired.

"I am Sato Osamu," said the boy with glasses.

"I'm Kunio," said the other. "Nice to meet you!"

"Why exactly are we escorting them if Jikun-san is a chūnin?" Osamu asked curiously.

"I have a mission," Rei explained, "so I'm going to be leaving half way, and you escort Zen-chan the rest of the way."

"You'll be safe with us, kid!" Kunio assured her.

Zensen nodded, blushing slightly as her mother laughed in amusement.

"Eager, are we?" said Rei.

"This one always is," Hisao explained.

"Shall we get going, then?" Rei suggested.

The six set out then, exiting Sunagakure, prepared to make the long journey to the neighboring village. About a day passed, the group stopping to set up camp and then heading out again before the strangers finally began to feel comfortable around one another.

"Hisao-sensei?"

"What is it, Noa?"

"How do you and Jikun-san know one another?" Kaneda asked.

"We were teammates, just like the three of you," Rei answered.

"What about your other teammate?" Kunio inquired.

"Jiro was killed on a mission a few years back," Hisao explained.

"Oh, that's awful," said Noa.

"You two are still so close after all these years?" Osamu said.

"Hey, you're making us sound old," Hisao replied.

Rei laughed. "Hisao has always been there for me." Sometimes she wished that she had realized that sooner, before she had met her late husband.

"And I always will be," he assured her with a smile. She returned the gesture with a smile of her own, a dreamy look in her eyes as she thought about what could have been, wondering if it still could be.

Noa smiled, sensing the connection between the two, knowing that her sensei was too scared to admit whatever it was he felt for her. Kunio blushed as he glanced from Rei to Noa, wondering if he and the young kunoichi would become closer in years to come. Wondering if they would ever have the relationship his sensei and Rei clearly had. Osamu simply adjusted his glasses, as he always did when he began to feel awkward or out of place, the latter happening rather often.

He loved her. Hisao had loved her for as long as he could remember, and he loved every part of her, Zensen included.

"Zen-chan, come along now," said Noa, noticing the child had stopped walking.

"I can't move my foot," Zensen replied, trying to tug her leg out of the sand. "It's stuck."

"Huh, let's see if we get you out then," said Noa, bending down next to Zensen to have a look at her leg. She looked at where the child's foot was buried in sand, and reached down to dig her out. Seconds later there was a piercing scream, snapping both Rei and Hisao out of their reveries.

"Noa-chan!" cried Kunio, rushing over to his teammate's aid before the others even had time to react. He went pale when he saw her bloody shoulder, his heart breaking seeing the poor girl in so much pain.

"Noa!" Hisao exclaimed, running over and bending down next to the two. Noticing Noa's shoulder, he looked over at Zensen as Kunio tore of a strip of bandage from the roll of gauze he had fished out of his kunai pouch. Thankfully, the younger of the two girls hadn't any wounds on her.

"You're not supposed to hurt any of them, idiot," rang a voice.

As if unveiling herself, a young woman in her mid-twenties came into view, unraveling her invisible camouflage and stepping forward.

"Well she got too close, Yuina-chan," chimed a childish voice that seemed to come out of nowhere.

"Call me '-chan' again and I'll bash your skull in," said the woman.

Hisao's eyes darted to the right as he felt a new presence approaching and looked up to see a man he did not recognize.

"I leave you two alone for five minutes and you've already gotten yourselves into trouble," said the man.

"Who are you?" said Rei, taking out her kuma, prepared to use them if necessary.

"She's the one who decided to target a kid, Atsushi," the woman said, ignoring Rei's question.

"Aww, but she's cute," cooed the childish voice as a mound of sand rose from the ground, morphing into a human form. "Anyway, Orochimaru-sama said he wants various ages. That means kids and adults."

"Who the hell are you people?" Kunio snapped.

"Your death, if you don't keep your mouth shut, kid," said the first woman, putting her hand on her chigiriki.

"Our boss is doing some testing," the man, Atsushi, explained, "and he's in need of… participants.  
"You lot should make a decent addition."

"You're out of your damn mind if you think we'll go with you," Rei snapped, unsheathing her kuma.

Hisao growled, standing up and grabbing a kunai. "Kids, protect Zensen. Leave these guys to us."

"We've got a couple confident ones, huh?" Atsushi commented, clearly unimpressed.

"Someone always has to play the hero," the first woman sighed.

"Ooh, ooh, Atsushi!" chanted the sand-woman. "Let me! Let me!"

"All right," the man relented, "have at it, Kokoro."

"Yay!" she cheered, throwing her hands into the air in triumph and sinking into the sand.

Seconds later, Kokoro jumped out of the sand, swing her tantō at Rei and slicing her side.

"Rei!"

"Mama!" cried Zensen, stepping forward, only to be stopped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked back to see Osamu, shaking his head in disapproval. Noa, who was now bandaged, held out her hand, offering it to Zensen, who reluctantly accepted it.

"Your mother will be all right," Noa assured her, gently squeezing her hand.

"Oh, how cute," said Kokoro, emerging from the sand once more. "I think I'll keep that one."

"Touch my daughter," growled Rei, lunging at the woman and swinging one of her kuma, "and I will _kill _you!"

The blade of the kuma made contact with Kokoro, but the effort was in vain, as the sand woman was just that: sand. The blade ran through her stomach and the sand reformed itself in the area which had been cut off.

"That tickles," laughed the sand woman.

"Who are you?" Rei dared to ask.

"Not fair, not fair," the sand woman lilted. "You first!"

"Jikun… Jikun Rei," Rei said after a moment.

"That's a pretty name," said the sand woman. "Okay, I'm Kokoro. They call me Kokoro the Sand Maiden."

"Well, Kokoro the Sand Maiden," said Hisao, "you've messed with the wrong shinobi."

Kokoro giggled, sinking back into the sand. Moments later she struck again, this time coming up from behind Hisao, catching him of guard and sinking her blade into his abdomen.

He gasped in pain and fell to his knees.

"Hisao!"

"Sensei!"

Grunting, Hisao forced himself back onto his feet. "This is nothing."

"Oh, you're no fun," said Kokoro, still in her sand form. "You didn't even scream." She smiled seductively and added, "I like it when they scream."

Forming hand seals, Rei released her technique, shouting, "Desert Winds Technique!"

A large breeze swept over Kokoro the Sand Maiden, strong enough to dissipate the sand. Rei sighed in relief. The woman was gone.

"Nice try, Rei-chan," said Kokoro, jumping out of the sand and stabbing the Suna kunoichi between her shoulder and torso.

"Will you hurry it up already?" Yuina insisted. "Why are you dragging this out?"

"More fun that way!" Kokoro exclaimed, as she appeared behind Hisao and made an "X" across his back. He turned to counter, but his kunai went right threw her, dealing no damage.

"You can't touch me, you can't touch me," Kokoro taunted.

"Hisao-sensei!" shouted Osamu.

"Osamu?" said Hisao, surprised to hear the usually quiet shinobi speak up. "You need to… you need to stay back, Osamu."

"Sensei, she's not invincible—she can be hit!" Osamu yelled.

Kokoro frowned. "Nuh-uh," she replied childishly.

Ignoring her, Osamu said, "She can't attack you in that form! She's not solid! Just sand! Any attacks would be ineffective—she goes back to normal right before she strikes! That's when you need to attack her!"

"No fair! No fair! No fair!" Kokoro shouted. "That's cheating!" She quickly dissolved into the ground, jumping out next to Osamu, but the boy was prepared. He'd already drawn three shuriken and readied himself, jumping out of the way and throwing the shuriken at Kokoro, who jumped in the air, avoiding his attack. Feeling sharp metal penetrate her skin, Kokoro screamed, more out of surprise rather than pain.

Landing onto the ground with a squeal, the sand maiden glared at Rei, who had sheathed one of her kuma and thrown a taisha ryu at Kokoro. Kokoro put her hand over her chest, where the taisha ryu had embedded itself into her skin, but decided she would just do more damage by pulling it out. Kokoro made a hand seal, her eyes widening in utter shock when she realized that nothing was happening.

"What's going on?" Yuina wondered aloud.

"With a wound that deep, using that sand jutsu would kill her," Atsushi explained. "It sort of monitors itself—it won't activate if it will kill her."

A new fire in her eyes, one burning brightly with rage, Kokoro charged at Rei, daggers raised. Pulling out her other kuma, Rei blocked the attack, countering, but Kokoro was equally as fast, ducking under the kuma's blades and striking Rei, grazing her chest.

Hisao stepped forward, but gasped when he felt a sharp pain in his lower thigh, looking down to see sanko had struck him. He immediately looked up at his assailant after realizing he'd been struck.

"What are you doing, Yuina?" Atsushi inquired, his voice tinged with curiosity.

"I want to see how long Kokoro can last," Yuina replied, grinning, "one-on-one."

Gritting his teeth, Hisao pulled the sanko out of his thigh, throwing it back at Yuina, who easily dodged it. Ignoring the biting pain in his thigh, he charged at Yuina, who swung her chigiriki at him, which he managed to dodge. With her chigiriki, she gained the advantage of strength, but also gave Hisao the advantage of speed.

Meanwhile Rei and Kokoro danced to the sound of metal clanging against metal, their movements flowing, almost gracefully, as they dodged attacks, countering and lunging in and out of the way, occasionally landing a blow on the other.

"That's it," said Yuina, "this is taking too long."

"No, Yuina!" Kokoro protested. "That's my kill!"

"You're not going to kill me," Hisao hissed.

Faking a swing, Yuina kicked Hisao in the jaw, stunning him for a moment, but in that moment Yuina swung her chigiriki, snapping Hisao out of his daze when it made contact with his chest. He fell down onto his knees, coughing up blood. The heavy feeling in his chest was familiar, and he knew that it likely meant his lung had collapsed.

"Hisao-sensei!" cried Noa.

"Stay back," said Hisao, sensing that Kunio was about to rush in. "You are supposed to protect Zensen. That means running away if it comes down to it. Under no circumstances are you to fight any of these guys. That's an order."

Now that he was significantly weaker, Yuina held up her hand, sending out threads of chakra, the kind generally used for puppet jutsu, to subdue Hisao.

"Hisao-sensei!" Noa cried.

Using this distraction to her advantage, Kokoro swung a tantō at Rei, who was already a step ahead of her. She countered, slicing Kokoro between her shoulder and torso. The Sand Maiden cried out in pain, dropping one of her tantō.

"Yuina," Kokoro shouted, desperately jumping from another of Rei's swings, "heal me!"

But Yuina simply stood where she was, staring curiously at Kokoro and Rei.

"What the hell are you doing?" Kokoro snapped. "Heal me already or I'm going to die here!"

"Exactly," said Yuina.

Kokoro's eyes widened; realizing what this meant, she took a risky gamble, throwing her tantō and grinning when she heard a satisfying grunt of pain. She watched as Yuina let go of her grip on Hisao out of surprise, and the Suna jōnin collapsed onto his back.

"Hisao!" Rei screamed. Fueled with newfound rage and adrenaline, gained significant speed, faking a blow to Kokoro's head and maneuvering to slice open her stomach. Kokoro gasped when she felt sharp metal against her skin and the sound of her flesh ripping like wrapping paper. She was suddenly filled with warmth as red liquid spilled out of her wound.

Rei ran over to Hisao, dropping down onto her knees next to him.

"Yuina, you have to heal me, damn it!" Kokoro snapped, her childlike demeanor now completely gone. "You can't do this to me! You can't let me die here!  
"Atsushi!"

"She can and she will," said Atsushi, making no move to help Kokoro.

"No!" Kokoro shouted in denial. "He won't let you! He won't allow you to let me die!"

"He already has, Kokoro," Atsushi replied. "You have let him down one too many times."

"No," Kokoro bleated, "no I can—I won't fail him again. Give me another chance. You can't… you can't!"

"You've used up all of your chances, Kokoro," Atsushi explained.

Yuina and Atsushi made no movements to help.

As all this was going on, Rei sat next to Hisao, holding back tears.

"Hisao," she said, "just… just hold one. You'll be fine."

"Rei, you know that's not true," her old teammate said. "Forget about me and worry about yourself."

"Don't say that!" Rei cried, shaking her head in denial. "I'm not giving up on you!"

"Rei, I'm not going to make it."

"No!" she protested. "Don't go!"

"Rei…"

"You can't!" Rei sobbed, tears now running down her face, not caring that she was breaking this important shinobi rule in front of her teammate and his students, for whom she was supposed to be a role model. "You can't die! Please don't die!"

Hisao couldn't help but laugh, coughing up blood in the process. "I don't think I have a choice."

"Don't leave me," she bleated. "I need you… I _love_ you, Hisao."

Hisao lifted his arm and gently placed his hand on her cheek. His hand was rough and callused, but Rei yearned for his touch. He brushed his thumb over her lips, those smooth, tempting lips she often painted red. Those lips he had always wanted, but never had a chance to press against his own.

He smiled weakly, able to feel overjoyed even in this moment of defeat, content with parting, if he even just got to hear her say that once. His hand fell to his side and his eyes lost their usual light, onyx orbs staring emptily at Rei, remnants of joy still visible.

Rei's tears continued to fall; she didn't sob, only stared helplessly, dumbfound, as bitter realization and self-loathing began to sink in.

"No," she whispered.

"Mama?"

Rei looked up at her daughter, noticing the tears running down her face. She felt utterly useless, having been unable to save Hisao, and now unable to console her child.

"You've used up all of your chances, Kokoro."

"Damn it!" Kokoro screamed, realizing she was on the brink of death and that nothing could be done. No, there was something. This was her kill.

Rei gasped when she felt sharp metal sinking through her chest, her head lurching forward with the momentum, knocking off her forehead protector. She turned her head to look at Kokoro, who weakly dropped her arm which was glowing with chakra, both of her tantō now gone. The sand maiden weakly glared at her, muttering a final curse directed toward both her teammates and Rei before dropping dead, lying in a circle of crimson sand.

Rei looked down at her torso, staring incomprehensively at the gaping wound in her chest and then turning to look at the bloody dagger sticking out of the ground in front of her, and then to her daughter and the three young Suna shinobi.

"Run," she gasped, falling forward onto her chest as she quickly bled out, taking a final breath. "Run."

Zensen ran over to her mother, scooping up her forehead protector in the process.

"Zen-chan, we have to go!" Noa shouted.

"But Mama… Hisao-chan," Zensen cried.

"I won't back down!" Kunio declared, pulling out a kunai. "Not without a fight!"

"That's enough of that," said Yuina, holding up her hand and attaching threads of chakra to each of the children. She tugged on the threads, forcing all of the children together, and then created more threads to tie them up with. She tied them tightly, to the point where the four were fully engulfed by a cocoon of threads, just barely able to breath.

"Are they going to be able to survive in there?" came Atsushi's voice.

"Yeah, they'll be fine," replied Yuina's, "and none of them will be able to break through my chakra threads.  
"Can we head back to the old man, then? Or do we need more subjects?"

"No," said Atsushi, "this will do… for now."


	2. Until the Day We Die

"Zen-chan… Zen-chan… oh, Zen-chan, please wake up."

She squeezed her eyes tighter, perturbed by the voice that had interrupted her deep sleep. She blinked once, then twice, then three times before her eyes adjusted to the light. It was dim, but still enough to have bothered her after who knows how many hours of sleep.

"Mama?" she said. "Mama, where are we? I had a bad dream, Mama. Are we almost there?"

"Zen-chan…"

The little girl looked up to see a familiar face; she recognized her bright, turquoise hair even in the dim light. She couldn't see her pink eyes, though. The eyes Zensen had found so pretty, but she could see tears. Tears running down her face as she shook her head.

She noticed Noa's shoulder, still covered in bandages, but clearly swollen. There was green puss seeping out from underneath the bandages, marking infection. Red lines were on her arms, slowly spreading over her body overtime as the infection spread into her lymph system.

"It wasn't a dream," Zensen realized. "It wasn't a dream." Her eyes began tearing up, she buried her head in her legs and sobbed. It was only then she realized that she was still holding her mother's forehead protector, which she then hugged tightly.

"She's awake?" came a familiar voice. Zensen turned to her right, noticing the bars of the cage she was in for the first time. Through the bars, in an adjacent cell, was Kunio, along with Osamu, who was seated calmly on the floor, his legs crossed and his eyes closed in some sort of deep meditation

"Yes, she's awake," Noa answered.

"I want to go home," Zensen cried. "I want Mama back! I'm scared!"

"I'll protect you Zen-chan," Kunio promised her. "I won't give up until I get us out of here."

"Kunio…"

"I'm not giving up Noa-chan," he told his teammate. "Whatever it takes. That's what a shinobi does, isn't it?"

"You do realize these people are far beyond anything we can handle, right?" Osamu pointed out.

"So what, are you saying we should just _give up_ then?" Kunio snapped.

"Of course not," Osamu replied, "but we can't be brash, either."

"Hmm, this is all of them?" purred a cold, snake-like voice. A pale ghost of a man walked into the room. He had dark eyes and long hair as black as the night. He wore a robe, black with red clouds on it. He barely looked human. Next to him stood Atsushi and Yuina.

"There were two adults, but we had to kill them," said Atsushi.

"I see," said the mysterious man. "It will do.  
"Take the youngest."

"Don't you dare touch her!" Kunio snapped.

The man laughed in amusement. "And take the lively one here as well."

"It'll be a whole lot easier if you don't resist," said Yuina, sending her chakra threads to tie up Kunio. "I'll take the girl, Atsushi."

"Sounds find by me," Atsushi said, unlocking the cells.

Zensen was picked up by the strange woman who hadn't even bothered to bind her, clearly believing that the young girl posed no threat, and she was right about that. Zensen froze in the woman's arm, not daring to move. She and Kunio were taken to another room, Kunio resisting the entire time.

"All right then," said the demon-like man. "Let's get started."

"Who the hell are you?" Kunio hissed.

"Orochimaru," said the man, "and I suggest you hold your tongue before I cut it off, boy.  
"I think I'll shut you up first," Orochimaru said, lunging towards Kunio and biting his neck. Kunio dropped to his knees, screaming. Orochimaru then walked toward Zensen, who shivered in place, too scared to do anything else. Tears ran down her cheeks as she saw Kunio writhe in pain.

"That's a good girl," Orochimaru purred, "so cooperative you are."

He bit her. At first Zensen didn't even realize it. She hadn't any idea what was going on as everything went dark. The last thing she saw was Kunio, now laying still on the floor, looking almost lifeless, the only thing indicating otherwise being his heavy breathing and the sweat all over his body.

"Bring them back into their cells," Orochimaru ordered after Zensen had blacked out. "I want observation reports."

"Of course, Orochimaru-sama," Kunio said. "Yuina."

Yuina generally wasn't one to use puppets, instead using her chakra threads in different ways, the possibilities seeming almost infinite to her. Why restrict to simply controlling a lifeless doll. Especially when you could control people.

Yuina held up her hands, chakra threads attaching themselves to both Kunio and Zensen, who unwillingly stood up despite their current states, and the two walked back to their cells. Once they were locked back in, Yuina detached the threads, and the two bodies fell to the ground.

"Kunio!" Noa had shouted. "Zensen!"

It was some time before the two woke up, but when they had, they couldn't help but wish otherwise. Kunio and Osamu had been taken to a different area of the hideout, while Zensen remained next to Noa, who was still in a separate cell, looking worriedly at the young girl and sliding her hand through the bars to hold the young child's.

Kunio remained alone, Osamu being prepared for his own curse mark. Kunio could feel himself changing, losing his grip on reality.

"I won't be… defeated by this," he had told himself.

Osamu was several rooms away, separated by a thick stone wall, but he could hear the demonic cries and screeches as clear as day, knowing deep down that it was in fact Kunio. Kunio had lost.

That is, until Zensen woke up. Until she began to change and Noa backed up as far as she could to the other side of her cell, unsure of what she was seeing.

First it spread. The lines on Zensen's neck spreading all over her body like some sort of virus. Then it was her skin; her brown skin became ashen, losing all its color, and horn like fixtures then protruded from her back. That's when she lost it. That's when Zensen pressed up against the bars, ripping them open and heading towards Noa, who started to scream. Zensen looked nothing like the sweet, innocent child Noa had first met. Now she was a monster.

"What are you?" Noa exclaimed.

And then Zensen stopped. She stopped dead in her tracks, the remnants of her sanity beginning to kick in. This was Noa. This was the girl who had held her hand, the one who had tried to protect her from Kokoro the Sand Maiden. This was the girl who had comforted her when her mother and Hisao.

That's when she stopped. That's when she fell to her knees and lost consciousness once more.

"What about the other kid?" Yuina inquired. "The one in Fire Country. Do you want me to go get her?"

"No, I'll be leaving that to Setsuko," Orochimaru told her. "That's her specialty after all. I'd rather not force Tori; it will be easier if she willingly cooperates."

"Very well."

"The girl worked out find, though the boy was a failure," Atsushi had reported.

"He died?" Orochimaru guessed.

"No, but he didn't retain his sanity," Atsushi explained.

"Hmm, not a complete failure, then," Orochimaru replied. "Subdue him, then I want him moved to the other cells where the other ones are."

"Yes, Orochimaru-sama."

"No," Osamu had whispered after hearing this. Kunio. That stubborn jackass that Osamu had always found to be childish and overconfident, yet still managed to get along with. The one who he scolded but also laughed with. He was gone.

As was Noa. She never came back from her slumber, the fever overcoming her and her heart stopping.

And Osamu, who was now back in his old cell, sitting adjacent to Zensen, knew that he would, too. He could feel the pain coursing through him, and new he wouldn't be able to withstand it.

"Osamu-chan?" Zensen whimpered, crawling to the farthest side of her cell so that she was sitting next to him, only separated by bars. She had never actually spoken to Osamu before, but now, they were all they had left.

"Save him, Zensen," Osamu said through panted breaths. "Save Kunio."

Zensen's eyes widened, then narrowed as she unsuccessfully tried to hold back tears. "I'm just a little kid!"

"You're strong," Osamu told her. "You survived. You didn't lose it like he did. I'm not… I'm not going to make it. Please… free Kunio."

"How?" Zensen cried. "I don't know anything. I can't do anything. Mama never wanted me to be a kunoichi, so I never learned anything!"

Osamu smiled weakly at the young girl, putting his hand on hers. The always serious, intelligent, calculated and socially-awkward Osamu, consoling a child; the strangest part was that it was working. "You can do it, I know you can. Zensen, do you know how to read?"

Zensen sniffled, wiping the tears from her face, now filthy with grime. Her bright gold eyes seemed to be the only thing with a comforting Light in the room. "Uh-huh."

"I'll teach you what I can," Osamu told her, "but—agh!—I don't know how much longer I have."

Two days. That's how long he had. The two of them practiced, Osamu teaching her hand seals; once she had memorized them, she would write down the hand seals on the dirt floor in various orders, explaining which jutsu they were for as Zensen copied them down into her own cell. She didn't learn many jutsu, but some. Enough to keep her alive, but not enough to free her. Not enough to keep her promise.

And every day Zensen grew harder. Every day she grew colder and more adamant about keeping her promise. It didn't take her all that long to realize just what Osamu meant when he had asked her to free Kunio, but at the point, death was nothing foreign. She knew death could be a relief, as she herself had longed for it many times, though she never would give in. She would never let Orochimaru win.

She hid her mother's forehead protector under a clump of dirt, always hiding it and taking it with her whenever she switched cells. Whenever Yuina or Atsushi or some other guard on watch came near her cell, she would wipe away the writing on the floor, knowing by now that she would remember it. She would try new methods, writing down new orders and contemplating whether or not she could successfully create a jutsu with this.

She subjected herself to Orochimaru's experiments, remembering what Osamu had said about the people there being far beyond anything they would be capable of handling. It was when she was eight. When she was lying down on a table, Orochimaru never bothering to tie her up since she never resisted, but then, one day, she'd had enough. She'd been poked and prodded and proved to many times, Orochimaru always trying to convince her to use her curse mark despite how much she refused. She grabbed a knife off of the medical tray and threw it at him when he turned around. Not even looking, he caught the knife, turning around and smiling at Zensen.

"Well this is new," he mused.

She glared at him. "Never. Again. I'm not doing this anymore. Never again."

"You will," Orochimaru said, "whether you wish to or not."

"I won't stop putting up a fight. I'll kill you."

"Good luck with that," said Orochimaru. He bore his usual, catlike grin. "Heheh, this makes things more interesting, anyway."


End file.
